Aceh is a province in Indonesia, on the northern tip of the Island of Sumatra. It holds a unique place in Asia's history as one of the earliest Muslim enclaves of Southeast Asia. It was the focus of International attention in in 2004 and 2005 after an earthquake with a magnitute of at least 9.1 sent a 30-foot tsunami ashore in Aceh on Dec 26, 2004. The tsunami killed about 168,000 people in Indonesia and 225,000 people altogether in 11 countries in the Indian Ocean basin.

The royal families of Aceh began to embrace Islam in the late 1300's. When the Dutch colonized Indonesia in the 1800's, Aceh was one of their most difficult conquests. Until the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, Aceh had an active independence movement. (Flickr picture, courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebonbongirl/.)

Today aceh is still recovering from the devasting 2004 earthqauke that destroyed the capital city, Banda Aceh.

Weblinks for Aceh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceh

http://www.aceh.net/

http://acehnet.tripod.com/asnlf.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami-imagery.htm

http://www.etan.org/estafeta/01/winter/6aceh.htm

http://baliwww.com/aceh/map.htm

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